For real? The impression I get is that places like Haaga-Helia, Metropolia and the like are where a lot of random foreigners go because they offer a selection of programs taught in English and they're easy to get into. Do those people think they are prestigious institutions?

Wait, are you still in contact with the Finnish exchange student girl currently? To be honest what makes you assume she even will remember or care about you? She's probably living with some guy and has two or three kids by now. Your own life fell apart and it's your problem to fix, not hers. If you want an adventure, do it for your own sake and not for the sake of chasing an idealized minor character from your nostalgic past.

Also, you seem to be confusing visiting and moving because you're toggling between talking about being a resident and a tourist. It's one or the other. If you're visiting here for 2-3 months it's not called moving and you don't have to worry about language, health care system, etc.

In my experience Finns typically can't be arsed to practice Finnish with a foreigner. It's not fun, it's a nuisance. Would you want to practice English with an adult who speaks like a kindergartener? Besides, the Finnish you're learning is probably not the same as spoken Finnish, i.e., what Finns use day to day.

But does Finnish people get offended by the use of Helsingfors instead of Helsinki, if people speak English?

Yes. Look - it's simple. Finns find it a bit insensitive and disrespectful to call it by its Swedish name when you're speaking English because you're putting Swedish above Finnish. The Finnish/Swedish language issue is a sensitive topic here, one you are apparently not very aware of. You can continue calling it that knowing it's disrespectful to Finns but in my eyes that makes you a dick.

It sounds like you're talking more about a stipend and not a scholarship. Scholarships are awarded and not meant to be repaid by any means including teaching or working. In that case, master's programs very rarely if ever have stipends -- that's more common with doctorate and post-doc programs.

I'm not sure what your point is. How is moving to another country just to have infinitely shittier employment prospects and live on a measly dole an improvement over his current situation? It's not as if you can't be on the dole in the US -- there's food stamps/government assistance/welfare etc available there and also no language or cultural barrier.

Are you fluent in Finnish? Have you lived here before or did you grow up in the US?

I've not been doing too well in the states...

If you're not doing too well in your own country where you have the huge advantage of being a native, what makes you think you'd fare any better in another country? You might be a citizen but you'd essentially still be a foreigner/immigrant and that's a pretty big handicap living here.

It's not as popular in America, as it is here in Canada or Australia, or anywhere that was started by immigration.

The US wasn't started by immigration..?

It's actually pretty prevalent in the US as well. Everything you described about Canada fits completely with how people in the US feel about biological heritage. It's very common for Americans to identify as e.g. 1/16 Cherokee, 1/8 Scottish, 1/4 Bulgarian, etc. Sometimes they leave off the fractions and just say they're Dutch-Hungarian-Irish or Italian or Greek-Japanese or whatever, which apparently offends and/or perplexes the indigenous people of said nations.

I agree with this. Though, from the way people talk about it, one gets the impression it's more like apples and real /actual apples which seems to imply the former are somehow fake. It's that snobbish elitist attitude that bothers me as it seems unwarranted and unfair.

Eh, I think only Finns go out of the way to make such a fuss over the distinction between the two. Maybe it's because I'm not Finnish but I don't see one as being better or more "actual" than the other. They seem equal to me, they just use different approaches.

Raf was a big fan of some incredibly violent manga and porn, and was almost kicked out of school at one point for possessing violent pornography related to animals. He also had a bizarre fascination with knives/swords and had knives mounted on the wall above his bed at his home.

I'm sorry but what do these things have to do with anything? They sound like typical interests for a young guy who's a computer geek, or any young person imbued in internet culture. I've downloaded and watched stuff like the Mr. Hands video and occasionally look at violent manga and porn as well as sites like efukt and bestgore. I'm also into swords as I used to use them in martial arts and have multiple ones in my closet. Doesn't mean jackshit. I'm also a pacifistic pregnant lady with zero criminal records or history of violence.

This is just like how people picked apart Knox's myspace profile or whatever it was, making a big deal out of a short story she wrote about someone getting raped and murdered, which apparently makes one a killer. Or equating pot usage and casual sex practicer = perverse deviant = murderer (!). It's absurd false inference, borderline thought incrimination and very dangerous.

What would RS' s motive be? I find it hard to believe that a shy introverted computer science student would have any motive in participating in the rape and murder of a roommate of his new girlfriend of one week. Why on earth would he team up with some guy he didn't know or perhaps met one time briefly in killing someone he knew for less than a week?

Seriously, these prosecution scenarios are madness that make no sense. There's no motive that AK nor RS have to do such a thing. It makes more sense that they stayed in that night, made dinner, watched Amelie on the laptop, smoked pot, cuddled, had sex, slept. Guede, on the other hand -- history of break ins, violence, motive, ubiquitous dna evidence, fleeing the country after, etc.

We do so. I'm American, I speak American English. I always choose "English (US)" from the language menus of my phone and computer software. Our language has its own history, etymology, literature, etc.